On the May 28 edition of CNN Newsroom, national security contributor Fran Townsend twice made the false claim that neither former deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove nor former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby had “outed Valerie Plame” as a CIA agent and that the leaker was former deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. In fact, Rove was a source of the information about Plame's CIA employment for at least two journalists -- columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine's Matthew Cooper -- while Libby was a source of the information for both Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller.

Townsend was discussing former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's claim in his new book that Rove misled him regarding Rove's involvement in the leak. During the discussion, anchor Brianna Keilar noted that contrary to what McClellan had told the press in October 2003, “Karl Rove did talk to the media about Valerie Plame” and that “Libby was convicted for lying about his role, or about what he said to authorities.” In response, Townsend asserted that “we know from the outcome of the [Special Counsel Patrick] Fitzgerald investigation” into the leak that “it wasn't Karl Rove nor Scooter Libby who outed Valerie Plame. That was a senior official in the State Department.” After Keilar stated that McClellan had “said they [Rove and Libby] were not involved, and the facts now show that indeed they were involved,” Townsend asserted that “what the facts have showed is they weren't the ones who outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. That's -- that was done by somebody else.” She later said that "[t]hey weren't the ones who outed him [sic: Plame]." Keilar then said that it was “Dick Armitage, of course, the original source there for the outing of her name.”

In fact, Novak has identified both Rove and Armitage as the sources for his July 14, 2003, column, and Cooper named Rove as his source who identified Plame as an employee of the CIA during a telephone conversation on July 11, 2003. In Cooper's first-person account of his testimony before the grand jury in the leak investigation, he identified Libby as his confirming source. Miller testified on January 30, 2007, that Libby disclosed Plame's CIA employment to her at a breakfast meeting at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C., on July 8, 2003, the same day as the meeting in which Armitage disclosed Plame's employment to Novak -- and six days before Novak's July 14 column was published. A Justice Department investigation into the leaks resulted in Libby's indictment and conviction on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to federal investigators that he had learned Plame's identity from NBC's Tim Russert, rather than other Bush administration insiders. Libby's 30-month prison sentence was commuted by President Bush on July 2, 2007.

Townsend is a former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to President Bush.

From the 2 p.m. ET hour of the May 28 edition of CNN Newsroom:

KEILAR: I want to discuss the timing with you in just a moment. But first, let's address a certain subject that obviously has really bothered Scott McClellan. This has to do with the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

McClellan clearly feels like the fall guy on this one. Of course, just to refresh our viewers' memories, Valerie Plame, her identity as a CIA operative was leaked to the media. Her ambassador husband at the time very critical of the Bush administration's justification for going to war in Iraq.

Let's listen to McClellan. This is October 2003, and he's talking to the White House press corps about Karl Rove and Lewis “Scooter” Libby, about accusations they were involved in this.

McCLELLAN [video clip]: There are unsubstantiated accusations that are made, and that's exactly what happened in the case of these three individuals. They're good individuals. They're important members of our White House team. And that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved.

KEILAR: Now, that sound bite was played over and over, Fran, because obviously it turned out not to be he true. Karl Rove did talk to the media about Valerie Plame. Libby was convicted for lying about his role, or about what he said to authorities.

Doesn't McClellan have a leg to stand on here, to say that he feels hung out to dry?

TOWNSEND: Well, there's no question. I mean, Scott -- that's the one issue on which it was clear when Scott was leaving that he always had recriminations, regrets about, concerns about.

But what do we know from the outcome of the Fitzgerald investigation? Well, it wasn't Karl Rove nor Scooter Libby who outed Valerie Plame. That was a senior official in the State Department. And so -- I wasn't privy to the conversation between Scott and Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, but it may in fact be that he asked --

KEILAR: Wait. But, Fran, he said they were not involved, and the facts now show that indeed they were involved.

TOWNSEND: Well, what the facts have showed is they weren't the ones who outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. That's -- that was done by somebody else. And I don't know, I don't think any of us know precisely what the questions were that Scott asked, and why Scott put it in the way that he did that they weren't involved. They weren't the ones who outed him, and if that was the question he asked, there may have been a misunderstanding between what he asked and what he was told.

KEILAR: Dick Armitage, of course, the original source there for the outing of her name.

But finally, I just want to ask you, Fran -- you mentioned the timing of this. Why is he talking now? It sounds like you're saying that he's late to the game, but it sounds also like McClellan is saying, “If I had spoken out then, it wouldn't have mattered.”